Doha, Qatar
killing time in the duty free shops of the Doha transit lounge.. there's a chance to win a Jaguar XJ here too.. haven't see one of them for a while..! If all goes well we'll touch down in Zurich at 07:55h.
, Thailand
Greetings everybody from our little chill-out-hideaway 350 km southeast of Bankok. Only 2 days of white beach, warm sea, fantastic food and relaxing massages left before we return home.. but we're looking forward to that too!
Beijing, China
Suffering a slight culture-shock here in overpopulated Beijing after 10 days in underpopulated Mongolia. But still a great place to be with loads of history, cool markets and strange vehicles. We're of to the great wall tomorrow, then on to Bankok.
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
last day in Ulaan Bataar, it's a 3o hour train ride to Beijing tomorrow. We are glad to leave UB after 5 days, it's enough for now although it was fun to watch exhausted teams arrive with their battered cars and we did see our freelander get auctioned, it went for 9800 US$!!
Bayan Olgii, Mongolia
it took less than 24 houres for us to cross this final border. other teams waited up to 48! the car is now officially imported and quite possibly the only freelander in Mongolia... having lunch at a locals house before we move 200 km on to next village which means at least 4,5 houres of driving.
Barnaul, Russian Federation
entering russia seemed like returning to civilisation.. good roads, modern cars, border officials who speek a little english.. Only about 550 kms from Mongolia now, we've heard some bad news about crossing the border though... 48 houres! and it's snowing!
Semey, Kazakhstan
Lost at least 2 days on exhaust issues, but now found a professional welder here in semey so we're getting real competition-system fitted! Well, actually we're just going to lose the rear silencer and weld all the broken bits together.. apart from that, the cars running great, even on 90 oktane fuel.
Almaty Province, Kazakhstan
they weren't kidding about the mean kazakh police.. we bribed our way out of yet another ridiculous speeding fine this morning.. Now eating european style food (for a change) in Kazakhstans largest city.
Shymkent, Kazakhstan
spent most of the morning looking for the only cash mashine in tashkent which operates with dollars. When we finally found it, it's switched off on sundays..! Crossed the Kazakh border today in record 90mins and bumped into other teams. Now in Shimkent for the night, leaving for Almaty tomorrow.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Had a delicious meal last night but it looks like Beatrice picked up a stomach-bug so she's a bit off colour today, poor thing. We've lost the other teams, some have already moved on to Kazakhstan, others are taking the Pamir Highway through tajikistan so we're on our own again. We've dropped plans for Kirgisistan, most boarders are closed. Only possibility would be to enter via kazakhstan but we would need a new visa...@
